John Holden’s signature schtick on TotalVOM is to use the video response tool on YouTube to provide semi-nude, often musical commentary on unintentionally funny YouTube videos. His absurdist deconstructions poke fun, but are well within the spirit of the video response form. And last November, a fan from YouTube successfully lobbied the site’s editors to get Holden featured on the front page, sending TotalVOM page views soaring to hundreds of thousands from merely hundreds.
Unfortunately, fame has its price. “Suddenly I became more popular, and more people are commenting on my stuff,” Holden told me over the phone. It didn’t take long before the problem mushroomed into a copyright dispute with the subject of one of his send-ups — the University of Metaphysical Sciences (UMS), which originally had a sense of humor but managed to lose it after YouTube commenters started being, well, YouTube commenters.
The UMS was nice enough to send Holden a note threatening legal action before actually issuing a takedown notice to YouTube, and a war of words ensued. Holden ended up turning to attorney-blogger Jason Schultz for advice — and now feels comfortable that he’s well within his rights in terms of parody and fair use. “In the long run, they’re going to get more views and business out of this,” Holden suggested.
The UMS didn’t respond to our email request for comment, but the situation seems resolved for now. If there’s a moral to this story, it’s that in vlogger drama, the only winner is the viewing audience.
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